we're strong and if we overcame that or if we can overcome that... we can overcome anything. [ sniffles ] ♪ >> we can't tolerate this anymore. these tragedies must end. to end them we must change. in the coming weeks i'll use

whatever power this office holds to engage my fellow citizens from law enforcement to mental health professionals to parents and educators in an effort aimed at preventing more tragedies like this. >> will this time be different? the sandy hook massacre finally ignites a national conversation on gun control. new york city mayor michael bloomberg has been leading the way. >> words alone cannot heal our nation. only action can do that. gun violence is a national epidemic and a national tragedy that demands more than words. >> this hour senator dianne feinstein about her push to reinstate the assault weapons ban. >> it's a first day bill i'm going to introduce in the senate and the same bill will be introduced in the house. a bill to ban assault weapons. it will ban the sale, the transfer, the importation and

the possession. not retroactively, but perspectively, and it will ban the same for big clips, drums, or strips of more than ten bullets. >> as the nation mourns 20 children and six women who tried to save them, some of the teachers who survived talk to matt lauer. >> it just kept going, so the noises that i started to hear were pops and, of course, i then at that point said, you know, we've got to do this lockdown. >> immediately the leaders in our building did what they needed to do, and they ran out of the door knowing that that gunfire was showering the hallways and the classrooms. >> i just kept reassuring them that they would be okay, that they were loved, that their mommies and daddies would be there soon and that we had them, we had them. we would hold them tight. and they did continue to cry, but they were able to hold it

together. they were -- they were amazing. they were quiet when i needed them to be, and they held each other, and they were perfect. >> friends and family remember 27-year-old victoria soto, a teacher who sacrificed her life for her first graders. >> the response is overwhelming. there's so many people here. it's nice to see how the community has come together, all classes. >> could you go to her and ask for a hug and she would just open her arms. >> the father of 6-year-old emilie parker describes the smiling child he lost. >> we find comfort reflecting on the incredible person that emilie was and all the lives she was able to touch in her short time on earth. emilie was bright, creative, and very loving. emilie was always willing to try

new things, other than food. she loved to use her talents to touch the lives of everyone that she came into contact with. >> but will newtown's tragedy change our response? an empassioned plea from joe scarborough on "morning joe." >> pole tigs can no longer be allowed to defend the status quo. they must, instead, be forced to defend our children. parents can no longer take no for an answer from washington when the topic turns to protecting our children. entrenched special interests are going to try to muddy the cause in the coming days. the cause of this sickening mass shooting, like the others, is no longer a mystery to commonsense americans, and blessedly, there are more commonsense americans than there are special interests. even if it doesn't always seem that way. i say good luck to the gun lobbyists, good luck to the hollywood lawyer who tries to blunt the righteous anger of

millions of parents by hiding behind twisted readings of our bill of rights. >> good day. i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. the first funerals today are for 6-year-old jack pinto and noah posner whose twin sister was in another classroom and survived the shootings. nbc's michelle franzen joins me now from fairfield, connecticut, where jack pinto's funeral is now underway. michelle. >> well, that's exactly right, andrea. we are here in fairfield about 30 miles from sandy hook where noah posner's burial services are underway. they began about 1:00 today. it is that day, andrea, where we start saying good-bye to all those bright boys and girls, those faces and names that we have learned over the course of the last few days. again, you mentioned the first funerals and services. little noah was 6 years old. he is described by his uncle as smart as a whip, gentle, but having a ram bunkus streak.

he leaves behind a twin sister, arielle who was in a separate class and made it out of that school on that day, and he said that his uncle said that noah considered arielle his best friend. they also have an older sister, 8-year-old sophie -- sophia, and the family members said they were all inaccept rabl during that time. in this area from fairfield, connecticut, back to newtown, jack pinto, also 6, his funeral also underway in the next few hours and afternoon. children have been arriving to that funeral wearing some newtown jerseys and relatives and family and friends have crowded into that facility and that church there. little jack pinto, of course, a bright face, a big, big sports fan, big baseball picture that we see him smiling at, and he was also a huge giants fan of receiver viktor cruz, and viktor cruz, well, that message was not lost on him at last night's game.

he wore a special message in honor of jack pinto saying my hero. andrea. >> michelle, apparently he is also going to visit in person. when we watch these funerals, the families gathering for these services, one has to wonder is all of this attention actually interfering with their ability to grieve? >> well, certainly i think many of the families have asked for privacy. we were listening to a briefing a short time ago where lieutenant vance had come out once again and asked for that privacy. there is a space here for the media that has been made available. of course, over the course of the next few days we will have more services. there's one church back up in newtown, sandy hook area, that will be burying ten of their children in the next few days. andrea. >> michelle, it is truly heartbreaking for all of the families involved and our condolences. a difficult assignment for all

of you. thanks, michelle. connecticut state police said today that sandy hook elementary could be a crime scene for months as the investigation continues. joining me from washington is nbc's justice correspondent pete williams. on the investigation, pete, you have been digging into this from the very beginning. what is the latest? >> in fact, andrea, the police say that moving vans are coming to that school today so they can take the furniture out of it to use in whatever new facility -- whatever other building they will be using to conduct classes for the students at sandy hook. the hopes had been relatively high that perhaps there would be a fairly expeditious answer to this question of why, but i think those hopes were somewhat -- having somewhat tempered in the last 24 hours. the police did find when they went to nancy lanza's house, his mother, and discovered she had been killed there, they found his computer, and they thought that they might be able to get some data off of that if he had

been in contact with certain web sites, if he had been buying things, if he had said anything, but they found that the computer had been seriously damaged, that the hard drive had been removed and also damaged, and there was initial thought that even despite this damage, they might be able to get some data off of it. so far i'm told that process has not been successful. now, they haven't given up on it, and there may be some breakthrough there, but there haven't been any quick answers, and it doesn't look like there are going to be any. they say he didn't leave any note behind, any letters, so they haven't found anything. you know, this is just such a thing of contradictions, this story, every turn. at a police briefing that just ended the police, state police, said they were unaware of any connection between adam lanza and the school and, yet, just yesterday the governor said it was his impression that adam lanza had attended that school, and we had been told that by others as well. you know, we still have to try to nail down all these details,

andrea, but that's pretty much the state of things. >> and when we talk about these guns, these guns that his mother owned, how unusual is it for these kinds of guns to be in a residence? i guess not in that kind of a rural community, but we're talking about heavy duty equipment here. >> well, she grew up in rural new hampshire, and the guns were a part of life. now, we're told that she didn't actually buy these guns until the past couple of years. i have been told that by investigators. our michael isokoff up there who has been talking to friends of hers had said the same thing. she became interested in target shooting a couple of years ago. the bushmaster rifle is one of the most popular rifles in america for people who do target shooting. the .9 millimeter pistol, the significant sauer is an extremely common handgun in america. the .10 millimeter glock. it's actually a .10 millimeter

glock is a somewhat unusual weapon, but there's nothing, you know, extremely out of the ordinary. >> one more quick question. you cover the justice department. i know that this is an issue that eric holder cares about deeply, but was he constrained by the whole controversy over fast and furious, that gun controversy, from doing what he might have wanted, because there's been a lot of reporting over the weekend that the justice department had some options that they could have done nonlegislatively and they defendant's exhibit take those steps. >> well, i think, actually, it goes much earlier than that. you recall that the president talked about the assault weapons ban when he first ran for election. i asked the attorney general about that after he was sworn in. he said, yes, they were going pursue it, and then there was such a political upheaval that i think it was the white house that decided no, let's just put that on the back burner for now, and that was the last we ever heard of any measures to restrict gun sales. you may also recall that the mere prospect that barack obama was going to be elected after talking about this caused a huge

spike in sales of ammunition. for a while there was such a scarcity of ammunition that police departments were having a hard time getting their hands on it, so i think you can't just trace this to the justice department. there was such an administrative -- administration-wide sort of pullback from the prospect of gun control in the first few days of the obama administration. >> fair point. it really is a political decision that has to be taken at the highest levels. thank you very much. >> you bet. >> thanks, pete williams. well, some gun law advocates are hoping that this tragedy will be different, that this one somehow, the enormity of it, will change the politics of guns. senator dianne feinstein has been leading the charge for decades and joins me now. senator, as you know better than anyone, this was actually one of the issues that propelled you into the limelight tragically as the mayor of san francisco through the shootings there, and then the series of mass killings, the 101, the stockton,

california, all of the assault weapon issues that arose in california made you the first advocate really. tell me about the history and what happened when you first went to the senate. >> it's a little bit more than being an advocate. we actually wrote that assault weapons bill. i came here. we set about writing a bill. i talked to senator biden about it. he was then chairman of the judiciary committee, and he laughed at me, and he said, diane, you're new here. wait until the gunners get hold of you. i said, joe, i'm going to do this as an amendment on your crime bill. i did. it wasn't -- there was no -- it was debated. there was a motion to table. we won the motion to table. chuck schumer did the bill in the house. both bills went through unamended, were signed by president clinton who mobilized people in the house, was very helpful and became the law for ten years. what we have been doing for more

than a year now is going through that bill carefully, making improvements in the bill, updating it, modifying it, putting it out for vetting with gun specialists, and we will be prepared to introduce an updated version on the first day of the next united states senate. just yesterday because i was on a discussion group on "meet the press" my phone began to ring, and i heard from a lot of people, from mayors, the mayor of philadelphia, mayor nutter, members of the house, ed pearlmotter, who is going it head the effort in the house, along with co-sponsors. i'm putting that together in the senate. i've had citizens groups, ceos of companies, namely sony, call and say whatever i can do to help, i will help. i've had a member of the nra from the central valley of

california call me and say i have an ar15, which is a sister weapon to this bushmaster, which your reporter said was common. i don't believe it's common at all. it's a weapon of war. it's designed for military use. it's a civilian version of the m-16. it's a killer weapon. you have no chance against that weapon, so i profoundly disagree that all of these weapons are so usual, and we intend to introduce a bill, and i intend one way or another, month matter how long it takes, to get that bill through. there's one thing i'm sure of. in the suicide bombancy of doing something that is sound, that is practicalable, that is workable, these incidents are not going to stop. i've watched them now since the texas belltower in 1967. >> mike bloomberg just said at a briefing at city hall in new york that if the president had

acted after he said he was going to act after tucson, if something had happened, we would have saved thousands and thousands of lives, that so many people have been killed just in the last two years, more than 24,000 lives from gun violence. not all from illegal guns, but gun violence. so how will this be any different? you are leading the way in the senate. other senators say, but what about the second amendment rights? speak to that. >> all right. think of that. the nra did not bring my prior bill to court at all. they knew it would not survive, that their action would not survive in the courts. i believe that even under the new opinions, the ability to pass some restrictions on these kinds of weapons will be sustained by the court. with respect to the president, i placed a call to him this morning. i'm hopeful that he will return it. i would like to talk to him about it his help many moving

forward with this. >> senator, what about the leadership from the white house? i spoke to a senior political advisor, an obama advisor this weekend, who said, well, the nr as has twice as much money, and there's no way to do anything. doesn't there need to be more leadership from the president? >> well, there does. on the other hand, you know, i was listening to mayor -- we were in the studio. i was listening to mayor bloomberg yesterday, and where he pointed out that with his pac he opposed seven people, gun people, and four of them were defeated. this can be done. i've done it. i know it can be done. i'm going to do my level best to get it done again. >> dianne feinstein, the litered of the charge. thank you very much. >> thank you. right. bye-bye. coming up next, a leader nra senate advocate says he has a change of heart. my interview with west virginia

eights joe mamchin. an official fund has been set up by the united way of central connecticut. to find out how you can give to the sandy hook school support fund go to andrea.msnbc.com.

if gun laws are going to be changed, advocates are going to have to overcome past opposition from strong nra supporters in congress. that may now be changing as long as no one tries to challenge the second amendment rights. earlier today i spoke with west virginia senator joe manchin, a life-long member of the national rifle association. >> senator, manchin, thank you for joining us today. this is a very difficult time

for the nation. it is a difficult time for everyone. you as a national rifle association life-long member, a leader and a senator, have a special obligation. has this changed everything? >> andrea, it's changed me. i don't think there's a warm front wvan that i know or someone that hasn't been moved by this horrific crime against our children, and we've never seen this happen before. nor could we ever expect anything like this to happen? so i think it has changed from the standpoint of we as adults should come together, one of the promises we make to our children, one of the five promises colin powell talks about is of child should have a safe place in their life where harm cannot do them any danger, and sometimes it's not always the home. usually it's always the school, and that's been taken away from us, so we have to re-evaluate. as you said, i'm a life member of the nra and a proud member, and i want to bring all of my friends of the nra in on this

discussion. they need to be part of this dialogue of how we move forward. we can protect the second amendment rights. we can protect it, and we will protect it, but we can look at also ways that we can make our country and our children more safe. i really believe that we can sit down and have that dialogue and hopefully have movement on that. >> i have heard calls for dialogue before in commissions, and with all due respect, i have seen so many incidents, four in the presidency of barack obama alone, and no engagement at all from this president during the campaign or from the other side. going all the way back now today we see joe calafano writing how lbj tried in the days after robert kennedy was killed in 1968 to do something, to move the nation, and he failed, and a minimal piece of legislation was signed by president johnson with great action newsing that he

expressed at what the gun lobby did. ho is this going to be different? >> never before in my lifetime i've seen the president get assassinated and seen attempts on president, i've seen martin luther king and robert kennedy get assassinated. i have seen the violence at other schools. never have we seen this many children, babies of ours, had this horrific crime against them, a tragedy. i can only imagine the pain, the suffering families are going through. how can we reach out and help them? this has affected all of us differently than anything has ever affected me, and i'm sure other people -- this is birg than just guns, andrea. we're talking about how we deal with mental illness, how we protect our children, how do we change this culture of violence? my friend joe lieberman, just a beautiful person, and joe is right when he says this should be looked at in a much bigger -- how do we even glor nigh some of the -- we sell games encurrentlying these types -- everything needs to be evaluated

and talked about who we are. >> senator, acknowledging that we have to talk about mental health, we have to talk about vamz, but on the marrow issue of guns, are you willing to work with dianne feinstein and try to do something about these semiautomatic -- these weapons of war as mike bloomberg described it on "meet the press." >> what i have said, andrea, i have been a hunter. i just came off of a hunting trip with my family deer hunting, and i don't know of anybody that goes hunting with an assault rifle. i don't know anybody that needs those types of multiple clips as far as ammunition in a gun. the most that i have ever used in my hunting rifle is three shells. usually to get one shot and very seldom ever two. this has to be brought to this level now, and it's a shame. an absolute traversy to this country and who we are as americans for this to happen and bring it to this level, but i'm willing to speak out on it, and, yes, we looked -- we're looking

at everything. not just the guns, but, yes, dianne feinstein, joe schumer talking about the multiple clips as far as rounds and clips and joe lieberman talking about putting a blue ribbon panel. all of this needs to be done, and, you know, it just really has changed us. it's changed me. >> well, let's hope it's changed the nation and with your leadership, it can. thank you so much senator joe manchin of west virginia. >> thank you for having me. one of the children who was killed had the voice of an angel. 6-year-old ana marquez-greene singing as her older brother played the piano last summer. ♪ ♪ father, oh lord greet us all victorious ♪ ♪ come and pray over us

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what's your policy? >> no single piece of legislation, no single action will fully address the problem, so i don't have a specific agenda to announce to you today. >> the president spoke out visibly on gun violence after the mass shooting in tucson two years ago. yet, since those shootings happened more than 24, 100 americans have been murdered with guns. that's right. in two years 24,100 more americans have been murdered with guns. had we done something then, a vast number of those would be alive today, and their families wouldn't have been torn asundayer. >> congress and the white house have been talking about coming up with commonsense solutions. is that the first step towards kopping out against, copping out

on a real crackdown on assault weapons? joining us is msnbc contributor and managing edtory of post politics.com and nbc capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell. chris, first to you. >> sure. >> we've been through this many, many times. >> we have. >> now, acknowledging that weapons and guns are not the only issue here, we have a much begger conversation to have about mental health, mental health support and violence in our society. what about guns, and what about any kind of legislative solution because it was never discussed during the campaign. >> right. here's what i would say. president obama noted last night at the memorial service in newtown, connecticut that, he had given speeches like this four times in his presidency. i would say the previous three times, however, he was not even close to as forceful and as assertive about the need for the country to change. critics will say he wasn't specific. i would say it's probably not the place where you get specific about what you would do. that was a difference. one other difference, washington post poll out today, you have a majority of people saying that

this shooting was evidence of a broader societial problem. in the past in the wake of tucson, in the wake of aurora, polling said that most people thought this was an individual act by a troubled person as opposed to a societial problem, so those are two things that today look different, but, again lts a proof is in the pudding here. you can talk -- mayor bloomberg said it. you can talk about doing these things, but you have to actually try to do them. >> dianne feinstein, kelly, is absolutely determined to try to reinstate a revised assault weapon ban. she's very plain spoken. joe manchin said he has had a change of heart, but i suspect that if they get down to the details, they would not agree on them. >> well, one of the challenges for members of congress is that the details make all the difference when it comes to passing legislation. it would be easier to galvanize support. it's so much more complicated.

there is more comfort, if you will, in talking about issues like an assault weapons ban or some restrictions on the high velocity ammunition clips. those things seem to be an area where people are more willing to talk, but one of the frustrations is that what can be done that would be effective, passing more laws for the sake of laws is something that makes people here very nervous and uncomfortable, and at the same time there's an enormous preb pressure to try to respond to this in a way that has more action than we've seen with these other examples you've been talking about. >> and, of course, the nra's money makes them even more uncomfortable. we should say. a couple of other very important things that have been happening, chris. the speaker has been at the white house, and they have been discussing for 45 minutes today the negotiations, we understand, over the weekend that on friday he put rates on the table, and the -- >> what we've had are three meetings between president obama and -- >> and radio silence about the details. >> no talking about them.

in the world of washington, that's a good thing if you want a deal. yes, john boehner did put rates for the wealthy on the table, but his -- i don't feel, president obama has pushed for those rates to go up on the people making $250,000 or more. it's a big difference. it suggests that republicans are giving. we don't really know how much president obama is giving yet. we'll see. you know, i mean, we're getting pretty close up to against it now. >> chris, kelly, thank you very much on a very busy day. the shooting at sandy hook is raising questions about school safety around the country. coming up, randy winegarden, president of the american federation of teachers. and an anonymous been faektor from north carolina has done aid 26 christmas trees to the newtown community. one for each victim of friday's shootings. the trees were placed on the road leading up to sandy hook elementary and have now become a shrine to those that lost their lives that day. ♪ it's so important to make someone happy ♪

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at this hour funerals are now being held in two of the youngest victims. ann thompson and nbc's national investigative correspondent michael isokoff have been in newtown since the very beginning joining me now from connecticut. ann, first to you. talk about the families and how they've been coping and your interactions with the survivors. >> andrea, i think today i've seen one of the saddest things i've ever seen in my career, and that is at the funeral home here in newtown 7, 8, 9-year-old boys wearing newtown football t-shirts walking in to a funeral home, and when you think that they are going not for because their grandfather or their grandmother or great aunt passed away, this they are going because a classmate or a

brother's classmate passed away, and that this is the first funeral that you will go to in what will be a week of funerals. it is a heart-wrenching scene. >> ann, we think about the twin, ann, the sur vooifg twin and the grief of that family and of that child. >> right. >> the posners. >> the posner people. >> absolutely. i mean, noah was 6 years old. big new york giants fan. i don't know if you saw the game yesterday. noah was a smart little boy -- that was jack pinto. noah was a smart boy who had a twin that was in a different classroom, arielle, and she survived that shooting. just imagine what she is going through and what she will have to live with the rest of her life. this isn't just an event that these children will be focused on for a week or a month, even a year. this is something that's going to impact them the rest of their

lives. >> michael isokoff, you have been dwelling into the why and talking to law enforcement officials. we may never know it, and we understand the computer, the hashed drive was so badly damaged, but the why. is there any clue yet? >> absolutely not, andrea. it is -- the whole incident, tragedy, remains inexplicable. we've been talking a lot to friends and relatives of nancy lanza, the mother of adam lanza, and getting some more insight. you know, she -- all of them tell us that she was a caring personal mother, very concerned about her son, worried about him, describing him as a recluese who stayed inside on his computer all day, rarely left the house. she was trying to get him internships, trying to get him a job, but from all indications, no suggestion that he was in any way violent. i talked to one good friend

today who had spoken to adam lanza and said not only was he not violent, he was a vegan who had a moral objection to killing animals that he would eat. now, we've also learned, of course, that nancy lanza was a gun enthusist, went to shooting ranges and took adam to shooting ranges. explaining that she thought having him interact with guns would teach him to be responsible and very much concerned about gun safety, so that is a dimension to this that is unfolding, but, still, no real clues to why. one other point i wanted to make, we did obtain the divorce records today of the lanza family. no indication it was a contested divorce. it was no contest. she did have a very generous settlement from her husband, paul lanza, who was the -- is

the ge executive. $250,000, quarter million dollars a year, escalating to about $298,000 this year. >> michael isokoff and ann thompson, thanks so much on a rainy, gloomy day that the weather matches obviously the mood up there in connecticut. thank you both. up next, we'll talk about school security with randy winegarden, president of the american federation of teachers on a day when teachers have been real heroes. ♪

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hi, i'm ensure clear... clear, huh? i'm not juice or fancy water. i've got nine grams of protein. that's three times more than me! [ female announcer ] ensure clear. nine grams protein. zero fat. in blueberry/pomegranate and peach. joining me now we're grateful to have randy winegarden, president of the american federation of teachers and an advocate for school safety, but not for guns.

>> no. i mean -- >> these people who say, well, let's arm all the teachers and the principals, so you are going to go up against a semiautomatic with what? what is the impact of the -- >> look, bill bennett said it yesterday on "meet the press" and my reaction initially was, please, come on, because it's what we need to do is actually we need to walk away from being this kind of gun intensive society. we need to actually create safe spaces and sanctuaries, and if you talk about the pragmatics, the pragmatics are ridiculous in that, you know, schools have many doors and windows, so the real issue becomes how do we create a safe society? how do we make sure that schools are safe sanctuaries? i think that there's a tipping point here about sensible gun laws. i think there's a tipping point here about thinking about access and destigmaization of mental

health, but, first, frankly, and i was up there yesterday, up in newtown, yesterday, there are 20 some odd funerals, 26 funerals this week, and we need to actually mourn and create a collective mourning for what has happened to that community and next then we have to actually act to keep schools safe, make sure that there's reasonable gun safety, and also do something in terms of mental health. >> let's talk for a moment about the teachers. there have been interviews and reports of what these teachers said. the teachers who said to matt lauer, you know, i said to them, i love you because they could have been killed. she thought they were going to die, and she wanted their last words they heard to be i love you ask your mommies and daddies love you. the good guys are coming. all these interabbings with teachers, this tells us so much

about the relationship. the teacher who was inspired by another teacher whose husband had turned out was the principal who died who wanted to be a teacher because she had been taught by this great man. >> so the only -- look, there's no silver linings here, but the only silver lining is that america is now actually opening up the curtain to see who teachers really are. teachers' instincts are to love, to serve, and to protect, and so this -- as someone who was involved in 9/11 and hearing the same exact stories when those bombs were there and when we were trying to get kids out of buildings safely, this is what happens with teachers with educators. this is why they are public servants. this is why first responders do what they do. you know, the -- this is who they are. they love kids, and they find a way instinctively to dig deep to create safe situations.

now, the teacher, like victoria soto who actually put all her kids in a closet or a bathroom and stayed outside and that gunman killed her. the principal and the school psychologist who lunged for the automatic. these are stories that are more heroic than i know how to explain, but what is happening here is that you have a community that has gone through a tremendous trauma and a nation now that has gone through a tremendous trauma. we have to help them heal. we have to mourn, but then we have to act. >> and take those moments to heal and mourn. randy, thank you. >> thank you. and the state department says hillary clinton is continuing to recover at home. she suffered a concussion after a fall after being dehydrated from a very severe stomach flu. she will come to congress, she says, in january with her response to that report on benghazi. the report has now been completed and given to her today. her top deputies are going to be

testifying about it on thursday. we'll be right back. ♪ but the fire is so delightful ♪ nothing melts away the cold like a hot, delicious bowl of chicken noodle soup from campbell's. ♪ let it snow, let it snow

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whatever portion of sadness that we can share with you to ease this heavy load, we will gladly bear it. >> this is the fourth time president obama has had to try to console a grieving community in the midst of the heart-wrenching pain and there was no follow-up from the white house or congress. well, will this time be different? joining me is nbc news historian. michael, i'm recalling what joe califano wrote about the former top adviser to lbj, written about what they experienced after robert kennedy's assassination june of 1968 following so closely after martin luther king jr., april of 1968. lbj, a texan, calls his top

aides in the oval office and says we need to act in ten days on long delayed gun legislation he had been pushing. in fact, they got beaten back because he said, you know, if we don't act quickly, the nra will organize and they did and they were beaten back and a very modest piece of legislation was signed that october. >> that's right. this was an issue that johnson knew. he was a big hunter on the ranch in texas and elsewhere. and remember how he came in. john kennedy was shot by a rifle by lee harvey oswald getting it from a sporting goods store in chicago. so johnson took it very seriously. >> he took it seriously. he couldn't get it done. we see barack obama bah in the campaign no follow-up. it's one thing to console and we should point out that that is a very important role. >> very important. >> he fills it brilliantly in tucson he did. we saw that as you've been tweeting going all the way back

to ronald reagan after the challenger. these moments. the great peggy noonan written speech where ronald reagan showed that leadership is really important. >> the bonds of earth. but lincoln did it at gettysburg but mainly a statement of political philosophy. now i think we would have a hard time electing a president not pretty good on this these on horrible occasions. think of something that happened in johnson's presidency. these "apollo" astronauts died on the launch pad and there was no national sharing experience like what we saw last night with the president at the center. nowadays there would be. >> well, now we have to see whether there's action as comfort. >> indeed. >> michael, thank you so much. thank you for your tweets, my friend. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." tomorrow, special guest nancy

pelosi. also former white house chief of staff john podesta. my colleague tamron hall has a look at what's next. hi, tamron. >> hi, andrea. remembering the young victims. just today two of the children killed in the massacre friday have been laid to rest. we'll tell you more about them, what they meant to their friends, their family and so many others. we also have an incredible panel of people joining the news nation. world renowned pastor. thed. jakes will believe a guest and an author of a blog of huffington post. enough dead children from gun violence. the author of the article getting so much attention and the latest on what the white house says the president's next step will be for this country regarding guns. lower cholesterol, how does it work? you just have to eat it as part of your heart healthy diet. step 1. eat the soup. all those veggies and beans, that's what may help lower your cholesterol and -- well that's easy [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

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i'm tamron hall. "the news nation" is following the first children laid to rest after the tragedy in connecticut.